Study for 'Her First Born, Horsham Churchyard (Funeral of the First Born)', 1874 (w/c on...

While one infant is saved in Holl's Deserted - a Foundling, another is lost in this 1874 study for Her Firstborn. The finished painting, exhibited in the 1876 Royal Academy exhibition, was one of several funeral pictures that year, appealing to the public taste for sentimental themes. Although one critic from the Art Journal (1876) insisted, 'Mr. Holl, we are sure, never painted better, another writer from The Graphic complained that Holl's depiction of family tragedy was a subject 'far too prevalent just now, to judge by the amount of agony piled up in this Exhibition'. This watercolour sketch is dated two years before the exhibition of the finished painting. Perhaps done shortly after witnessing the scene, it has a sense of immediacy that is almost intrusive into the private grief of the mourners.